Car-brake



7 (No Model.)

M. HINER.

GAR BRAKE. I No. 298,467. Patented May 18, 1884.

Jnvenior:

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ATFN'I Prion.

MARTIN M. HINER, OF HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 298,467, dated May 13, 1884.

Application filed July 13, 1883. No model.)

1'0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MARTIN M. HINER, a citizen of the United States, residing in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Brake Attachments; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification.

In the forms of apparatus heretofore invented for this purpose none have been devised in which the brakes will work equally as well upon curves, and especially upon reversed curves, as upon straight portions of the track, or which will operate as well in long trains of forty or fifty freight-cars as in short trains.

The object of myinvention is to obviate the defects incident to the existing forms of selfvacting brakes in these respects, and by improving thereon to produce a complete automatic system which will actuate the ordinary brakes, and which, without interfering with their application to any one car by hand in the customary manner, may, at the option of the engineer of the train, be brought into effective operation, so that whatever may be the position of the train, whether on a reverse curve or on a straight track, the retardation of the engine or forward cars, when the train is in motiomshall operate to produce an automatic application of the brakes to each or any car in the rear thereof, irrespective of the length of the train.

It consists in the combination,with two arms adapted,by means of suitable mechanism under the control of the engineer, to be projected rearwardly from the locomotive or tender in line with the bumpers, of two longitudinallytraversing rods transversely connected, so as to move in unison, and so fitted under each car of the train as to extend, one on each side, from bumper-head to bumper head in line with the bumpers, so that the ends of the rods on each side of all thecars shall respectively come into contact when the bumpers are forced together, and shall also contact with the arms on the locomotive or tender, when the latter are projected outwardly. These connected 1ongitudinally-traversing rods serve to operate by their longitudinal movement the brakelevers of the car. Then the two rods on the first car are forced inward by contact with the outwardly-projecting arms on the locomotive or tender at one end, they will both project outwardly at the other far enough to engage the corresponding rods on the next car brought, as aforesaid, directly in line therewith, so that the brake-levers on each car will thus be actuated in turn throughout the entire length of the train, when, by the movement of the engineers lever, the locomotive brake-arms are thrown out, and an application of the brakes to each and every car in the train will be thereby produced. 1f the train be upon a curve, the rods on the inner side will alone come into contact; but these will suffice to produce an application of the brakes. As the longitudinal rods admit of being straight from end to end, and each pair are rigidly connected and braced together, not only is sufficient strength attained with a comparatively light weight of rods, but the rods on the inner side of each curve or bend of the train,when it is moving or standing upon a double or reverse curve, will be surely brought into operative contact.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a bottom plan view of a car having my brake device applied thereto, the ordinary brake chains and appliances being omitted to avoid a confusion of lines; Fig. 2, a similar View, illustrating the brake-rods when moved to produce an application of the brakes; Fig. 3, a side view of one of the actuating rods or tubes and Fig. 4, a side View, illustrating the application of the brakes to the wheels of one of the trucks.

A is the bottom frame of the car, and B the trucks supporting the same upon the wheels 0. The brake-shoes D, fitted upon cross-bars E E, swung by links F from the cross-head or bolster B of the truck, (see Fig. 4,) are brought to bear equally upon the front and rear wheels in each truck by means of a lever, H, pivoted to one of the bars E, and having its shorter lower end connected bya rod, a, with the corresponding end of a second lever, H, pivoted in like manner as the lever 11 to the opposite bar E. (See Figs. 1 and 2.) The brakes are constructed and connected alike in both trucks, and the upper longer end of the actuating lever H of each is coupled with the corre* sponding lever of the other by an equalizing automatically in its normal position: at. right" angles to the length of the car by means of a spring, L.

M M are the two connected operative rods which extend the entire length of the car, each.

from a point in line with the face ofa bumper, Z), at one end of the car, to a point in line with the face of the corresponding bumper, b, at-the' opposite end and below the same. The rods are bent outward centrally,yso.as to pass over the ends of the equalizing-bar J, as shown in;

Figs. 1: and 2, and each isled througha longitudinally-slotted plate, H, secured, upon. the

upper side of the bar. (See Fig.3 anddotted lines, Fig. 2.) A sliding springactuatedstop, '5, isfitted uponeach rod, toengage the slotted plate H when therodflismoved longi tudinally from its normal. position in a given The stopsiupon thetwo rods. arearranged each to engage the bar-J from anop posite directiomsothat one of therodswill always-engage the equalizing-bar. J ,in which ever direction theyiare pushed, and, forcing, it around, willthereby cause the brake-chain G. to draw upon thebrake-levers H1 H, and thus: By this. ar

direction.

apply the brakesto the wheels. rangement the equalizing-bar is: actuated; al' ways in the same direction to apply the brakes, irrespectiveof the direction inwhich-rodsM- M may move. The rodsare coupledto-move together. by means of cross-rods P P- (See Figs. 1 and 2.) Gas pipes or tubes may be employed to constitute these rods.

The ends of the connected. rods M; M are ordinarily inside of, the ends ofthebumpers, (see Fig. 1,) so that in the usual movements of the train when starting or running, either backwardor forward, the rods remain inoperative, and the brakes, uninfluenced thereby, ,7

may be operated by any of i the usual. appli ancesadapted to actuate either theequalizing-bar J orthe brake-leve'rsHorH. hen, however, pressure is; applied to. the endsof the longitudinal brake-rods M M; to ;push

them inward in either direction, (seeat lefthand in Fig. 2,) the result is an immediate application of the brakes to the car. This inward movement of the rods is effected nponthecar next to the locomotive by means of one or more arms, N N, (see Fig. 2,) adapted to be forced out from the rear end of the locomotive or tender into direct line withthe end orends of the longitudinal rod or rods under the car by means of a lever to be actuatedby hand or by steam, and which is under the control of the engineer. By pushing out. one or both of these arms against the ends of the brake.

manner as described. As the car is thus arrested, the next car will be driven into close contact therewith by its momentum, and the projecting ends of the brake-rods, brought thereby into contact with the ends of the brake-rods on this next car, will operate to move said rods, andthereby apply the brakes to that car, and thus the brake-rods of one car, when brought into play, will operate to move the brake-rods of the next throughout the entire length of the train. So soon as the engineer draws back the. brake-arms on the locomotive and starts the engine forward, the entire series of brakes will be released. So long as the brake-arms are not projected to engage the rods, the train may be operated as if. my automatic brake arrangement were not connected therewith.

arm orarmsonttherear of the" tender with.

the ends of the longitudinal rods under the next car, and between the ends of the said rods under the several. cars, so that when train without the interposition of any mechanical devices whatever.

The connected longitudinallytraversing brake-rods.M Mmay be-appliedto-any of the lever-brakesnow in use uponfreight-cars- The devices for. applying the longitudinal,

movement of therodstothe operation of the brakes are such as will readily suggest themselves to thepractical mechanic, andneed not therefore be herein enumerated or described.

I do not herein claim asingle rod running longitudinally. and centrally. under; the bottom of thecar, with itsendsprojecting under the draw-heads at themiddleof each end of the car, to be operated by the outward, thrust of Itwill be observedthata direct contactis substantially the same device prior tothe date of said patent, I found it inoperativewhen the cars are running upon a curve, and useless on freight-trains of ordinary. length on ac count of the lost motion involved; nor do I claim two separate rods moving independently of eachother, as described in the patent to J. \V. Glover, No. 156,284, of October 27,1874, as the brakes could not thereby beapplied an? tomatically to all the cars of atrain moving over areverse curve, as in my invention.

Iclaim as new, and desire to secure byLetters Patent- In a system for automatically applying the brakes upon the cars of a railway-train through the momentum of thetrain, the combination, with each car and with its brake appliances, of a frame constructed of two continuous rodsv connected by cross-bars, an.dmounted to have jointly free longitudinal play under the car,- 7

each longitudinal rod of the frame being made to extend the entirelength of the car, on either In testimony whereof Ihave signed my name IO side thereof. from bumper-head to bumperto this specification in the presence of two subhead, in position to align and contact directly scribing witnesses. r

with a counterpart projecting arm or rod on the locomotive or tender, and to produce by I MART. M. HINER.

its rearward movement in unison with its parallel rod an application of the brakes on the Witnesses:

car, substantially in the manner and for the Y O. WESTBROOK, J r.,

purpose herein set forth. S. W. FLEMING. 

